Thursday 4th February 2016- The Telegraph: Team GB athlete dies from meningitis after being told by A&E doctor she had stomach bug

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‘A young Great Britain athlete died from meningitis just hours after a junior doctor on his first week in A&E wrongly diagnosed a stomach bug, an inquest heard.

Ellie Penrose, a promising 18-year-old triathlete, was taken to hospital by her family after complaining of a headache and sensitivity to light.

She was seen by newly-qualified Dr Don Hettiarachchi who diagnosed gastroenteritis and dehydration and sent her home with paracetamol and ibuprofen.

But an inquest heard she was “inappropriately discharged” from Hull Royal Infirmary, in East Yorkshire, after the “failure in care”.’

‘Hours later, her parents Tom and Pauline dialled 999 after finding her critically ill on her bed at their home. She was taken to hospital, but died later the same day from “overwhelming sepsis” caused by meningococcal septicaemia.

Hours before she died last August, Miss Penrose discovered she had excelled in her A-levels and was destined for university.

Dr Hettiarachchi admitted to the Hull inquest he was “not 100 per cent sure” of the root cause of Miss Penrose’s illness when he saw her in the hospital at 3am on August 12 last year.

With no consultant available, he consulted with fellow trainee Dr Ayman Ghoneim in a corridor before discharging her.

Coroner Professor Paul Marks asked if he had considered meningitis and Dr Hettiarachchi replied: “I did. When I examined her there was no rash. There was blotching on her face. I felt it was more viral.’

‘Questioned by the Penrose family’s lawyer, Dr Hettiarachchi added: “I did not treat it as meningitis because I felt it didn’t fit with the general picture.”

Asked if he would have done anything differently, he replied: “Lots of things. I would have consulted with a registrar or above.”

Dr Hettiarachchi accepted he did not highlight key observations – crucially, Miss Penrose’s high blood pressure, low pulse rate and skin blotching – to Dr Ghoneim, but denied a claim that he had already reached a diagnosis.’

Related Articles:

Team GB athlete dies from meningitis after being told by A&E doctor she had stomach bug

Team GB triathlete Ellie Penrose died after her meningitis was misdiagnosed as stomach pains, inquest hears- The Independent

Triathlete died after doctor failed to diagnose meningitis- The Guardian

Saturday 2nd January 2016- The Telegraph: Scottish ambulances attend 60 drink-related calls a day

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‘Ambulances in Scotland have to attend more than 60 incidents every day where a patient is so drunk that it has to be formally recorded by medics, according to official figures.

Paramedics had to treat around 12,000 people in the six months to the end of September who were so intoxicated it was noted on Scottish Ambulance Service systems.

More than 90,000 incidents have been recorded since 2012/13 where alcohol is not the primary reason for the call-out but has been named as an “additional factor”, for example where a drunk has cut their head after a fall.

Scotland’s largest health board, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, had the highest number of alcohol-related 999 call-outs in the last six months at 3,849, followed by NHS Lothian with 1,935 and NHS Lanarkshire with 1,470.

The figures, unearthed by the Scottish Conservatives, followed a staff survey last month which showed anecdotally paramedics thought alcohol played at least some part in half of weekend call-outs

The Scottish Ambulance Service report also found that drink was also involved in 42 per cent of incidents on weekday evenings and one in six during the daytime.’

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Scottish ambulances attend 60 drink-related calls a day

Sunday 6th December 2015- The Independent: Jeremy Hunt says non-EU foreign patients to be charged for using NHS services including GP and A&E care

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‘Non-EU visitors and migrants to the UK will have to start paying for NHS services, including A&E care and ambulances, the Government has announced.

The changes would see patients from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) charged for urgent and non-urgent care, including rides in ambulances, X-rays, setting broken bones, blood tests, draining fluids and care received from paramedics.’

‘Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said the proposed move would save taxpayers £500m a year by 2018.

Mr Hunt said: “We want to make sure that everyone makes a fair contribution to services, by extending charges to make sure visitors pay for the care they receive.

“This government was the first to introduce tough measures to clamp down on migrants accessing the NHS and these changes will recover up to £500m per year to put back into frontline patient care.”’

Related Articles:

Jeremy Hunt says non-EU foreign patients to be charged for using NHS services including GP and A&E care

Government plans to extend NHS charges for non-EU patients- The Guardian

Non-EU patients ‘should be charged for GP services’- BBC News

Thursday 12th November 2015- BBC News: NHS pressure worsens as key targets missed

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‘The NHS is missing many of its key targets with more patients getting stuck in hospital, latest figures show.

Data from NHS England showed in September the health service missed its A&E target to see, treat or discharge patients within four hours.

Performance also fell short on access to cancer treatment, diagnostic tests and ambulance response times.

To make matters worse, hospitals have been struggling to get patients out when they are ready to leave.

A snapshot taken on the last Thursday of September showed more than 5,000 patients in England were occupying beds, even though they could have been discharged.’

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NHS pressure worsens as key targets missed

Friday 19th December 2014- BBC News: A&E has ‘worst week’ in England

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‘Data showed just under 90% of patients were seen within four hours in the seven days up to December 14.

Major units particularly struggled, with just six out of 140 meeting the target to see 95% within four hours.’

‘There were over 111,000 emergency admissions to hospital – 80,000 from A&E units – which is an all-time high.

Trolley waits – that is waits of four hours or more for a bed once a decision to admit a patient into hospital from A&E is made – topped 10,000 for the first time.

That compares to under 4,000 for the same week last year.’

Graph

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A&E has ‘worst week’ in England

Thursday 19th December 2013- The Guardian: A&E staffing: why many doctors go to work abroad or switch careers

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This article discusses the reasons for the harmfully low employment rate within A&E departments throughout the UK, discussing issues including abroad migration of medical personnel and the stresses of the job meaning a decrease in medical students, and existing doctors, willing to pursue a career in Accident and Emergency. The staff shortage has been said to mean ‘almost 750,000 patients’ care suffers every year’, with just 50% of A&E positions being filled in the last 3 years while patient admissions to the department has increased by 250,000 accordingly in the major units around Great Britain in the last 12 months alone.

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23rd September 2013- The Guardian: Demand soars at busiest A&E units

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The affects on the winter climate and the responsibilities of the government in terms of the health of its public through the NHS is discussed in this article. The column also discusses the problems NHS A&E departments in previous years come the winter months, and targets the current government for not improving the current health issues that have been risen, meaning that currently ‘one in 10 of patients in A&E have to wait more than four hours’ in London hospitals.

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